The Gastro Project celebrates Mother’s Day

The Gastro Project is the kind of restaurant that you’d be very comfortable to bring your family for a lazy weekend lunch; it’s also the kind of restaurant you’d love to bring your sweetheart for a cosy dinner. The restaurant oozes charming style and warm cosiness at the same time. Black and white checquered floor, bench-like upholstered sofas, warm lighting … all these exude a welcoming vibe the moment you step into The Gastro Project which is located in that quiet “restaurant row” locale in Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

With all the makings of a charming neighbourhood restaurant, The Gastro Project is a good place to head for your Mother’s Day celebration. They have come up with a value-for-money special menu for 11 May 2014, a celebratory meal specially for that great woman in your life. At RM120++, diners get to choose their starters, mains and dessert from this menu:

Poached pear with crusted pistachio chocolate sauce and served with vanilla ice cream

At a recent preview, I got to taste the grilled prawns and pan-seared scallops for starter, the tenderloin steak with foei gras for the mains and the chocolate mousse for dessert. The prawns were fresh and sweet but just a tad small in size and the scallops add a flourish to the dish.

The tenderloin was pink and juicy (we had it medium rare, of course) and the foei gras was really decent. The chocolate sauce may sound a bit weird but it worked well with the meat and liver – I liked the combo!

For non-meat eaters, a vegetarian menu for Mother’s Day has also been thoughtfully included.

Vegetarian

Starter

Sliced buffalo cheese with tomato and balsamic reduction sauce, or

Cream ball crispy risotto with mustard mayo and sliced cucumber

Main

Gnocchi with creamed pesto and sliced potato baked with cheese served with arugula salad, or

Spinach crepe with light tomato sauce baked with cheese

Dessert

Chocolate mousse with fresh cranberry, or

Poached pear with crusted pistachio chocolate sauce and served with vanilla ice cream

Toast the woman of your life with some special cocktails, from left: Hmmm, Apple Crumble Martini, Apple Grey Tea

Their regular menu does spot many crowd favourites like burgers, steaks, pastas, pizzas and pies. The Malaysian Rendang Burger (RM28) is a testament of the restaurant’s fusionistic slant. Hints of lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, shallots – all the typical rendang spices are mixed into the thick chicken patty. While I would have preferred the patty to be more texturally exciting (with chunkier meats instead of a smooth mince), the flavours were sufficient and the fact that the burger came with a huge portion of fries makes it quite a substantial offering.

Lamb Kebabs

Starters like Lamb Kebabs (RM20) and Bacon Loaded Potato Skins (RM16) were so very different in nature but hey, who cared when they both tasted so good.

Bacon Loaded Potato Skins

The chefs did a good job with the pastas as I liked the two that I tasted. Known simply as “The Spaghetti” (RM24), it’s the restaurant’s “most popular dish” and I can understand why. Done agio olio style, the al dente spaghetti was tossed with generous amounts of crabmeat, parsley, garlic and chilli flakes for the extra heat. The Fettucine (RM20) did not disappoint either: tender grilled chicken breast with ribbon pasta in a gently spicy tomato sauce.

The Spaghetti

The Fettucine

The 2 must-try pizzas here are The Moroccan and TGP, both at RM32. The Moroccan was visually pleasing – it’s dotted with homemade lamb meatballs, pine nuts and pomegranate. I preferred TGP with its feisty pesto paste holding up squids and prawns and some lethal green chilli padi perfectly camouflaged by the pesto paste. Definitely my kinda pizza.

The Morrocan

TGP

I was told their Duck Confit (RM48) with orange butter reduction and Pan-seared Barramundi with creamy dill risotto (RM35) are popular orders. I found the duck confit a bit dry but the aromatic orange reduction was a good match.

Duck Confit

Pan-seared Barramundi

The Prawns (RM40) simmered in buttercream sauce was a decadent dish. The milky creamy sauce was insanely tempting so it’s a good thing that deep-fried mantous were served with it.